Founder of StrategyBreakdowns.com

TLDR: Worked in strategy consulting → Joined strategy team at Atlassian → Started writing strategy case studies → People liked them, so I left my job and went full-timeCheck it out → StrategyBreakdowns.comFor Partnerships Inquiries → passionfroot.me/strategybreakdowns

Tom Alder

This cheeky ad campaign is a masterclass in making people stop and laugh.

Airport billboards plastered with uncomfortably close faces and... features. 

Imagine touching down after 20hrs of international travel and seeing a 20ft nostril.

You'll probably chuckle, jump in an Uber, and remember that nose for weeks.

This is how you win the attention economy in 2026.

—

📌 P.S. I originally came across this campaign because it was going viral and came up on one of my ‘outlier trend’ dashboards. 

Lots of people asked me how I set this up, so I made a free tutorial teaching you exactly how I spot these trending topics / content / products in a few seconds (using free tools): https://lnkd.in/dnxsxJRm

In 2025 I went from $13k/mo to $24k/mo.

In 2026 I'm chasing $50k.

But honestly, my biggest wins were outside of work:

→ Packed up my cosy life in Australia
→ Donated/sold 90% of my physical possessions
→ One-way flight across the world

I've spent the last few months living in: Manhattan. Brooklyn. Barcelona. A tiny beach town called Torredembarra about an hour south of Barca. Valencia. Granada. Madrid. New York again. And now, East London.

2 years ago this was literally a dream I scribbled in a journal. 

Still feels totally surreal when I stop and think about it.

Thank you for reading this past year.

Let's win in 2026.

Anyone in London - hit me up!

—

👉 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my newsletter - a 3-minute breakdown of the strategy playbooks and growth hacks behind the world’s greatest companies.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

The Xbox website in 2004.

Bring back the weird and wonderful web.

—

👉 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my newsletter - a 3-minute breakdown of the strategy playbooks and growth hacks behind the world’s greatest companies.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

Summer 2009: Airbnb was stuck at $200 per week (!) in revenue… for 8 months straight.

Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were running out of money and hope.

When they looked at their worst-performing listings, they all had something in common: "The photos sucked."

People were using flip phone cameras or blurry unedited photos. 

Properties were being undervalued because potential guests couldn't properly assess what they were getting.

The solution: doing something that seemed "unscalable".

The founders:

→ Flew from Mountain View to New York
→ Borrowed professional cameras  
→ Personally photographed 24 hosts' apartments

Result: Revenue doubled to $400 in one week.

This wasn't just about prettier pictures. It solved Airbnb's fundamental marketplace trust problem:

• Guests buying an experience they can't return
• From strangers they've never met
• With no way to verify quality beforehand

Professional photos provided instant credibility, visual proof, and increased perceived value.

The strategy didn’t stop there.

It sparked Airbnb's global Photography Program:
→ Network of 2,000+ freelance photographers
→ 35,000 listings shot across 5,000 cities
→ Listings with pro photos earn 2.5x more bookings

The lesson: Sometimes winning means stop coding and start knocking on doors.

—

💡 If you enjoyed this, it originally appeared in my free 3-minute newsletter, 'Strategy Breakdowns'.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

The value of $1,000 invested 10 years ago:

Amazon (AMZN) → $4,430
Netflix (NFLX) → $5,110
Apple (AAPL) → $8,170
Tesla (TSLA) → $33,630
AMD (AMD) → $123,010
Bitcoin (BTC) → $138,460
Nvidia (NVDA) → $157,870
XRP (Ripple) → $263,160
Dogecoin (DOGE) → $367,590
Ethereum (ETH) → $2,013,020

—

👉 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my newsletter - a 3-minute breakdown of the strategy playbooks and growth hacks behind the world’s greatest companies.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

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Founder of Strategy Breakdowns

I'm hiring a writer!

But not just a "writer."

A Superwriter.

Here's how to know if that's you:
→ You're subscribed to like 20+ newsletters
→ You compulsively screenshot great emails, ads, charts etc
→ You can write about complex business concepts in a simple and engaging way
→ You use Claude/Perplexity/Deep Research/Zapier/Notion better than anyone you know

The job: Produce the best strategy case studies on the internet.

Start with 1-2 breakdowns per week.

As a Superwriter, a core part of your role *from Day 1* is building systems, templates, automations, and agents for research, curation, creation, editing, visuals etc.

Note: This role is *not* for you if you don’t know how to (or don’t want to) work with AI/automation to improve your output (more engaging writing, more thorough research, faster graphics, etc)

What you'll get:
- Front-row seat to a fast-growing internet media business
- Work directly with me - I'll teach you everything I know about writing, audience building, sponsorships, and anything else you're interested in
- Freedom to follow your curiosity and shape the role over time
- Access to pro versions of best-in-class tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Notion, Canva, Wispr Flow etc)
- Write + build things that reach hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of people in tech
- Fully remote, work from anywhere in the world

If this sounds like you: Job Description + Application in the comments 👇
If this sounds like someone you know: Tag them!

110,803 people read my weekly strategy essays, but I have 2 HUGE problems:

1. They aren't good enough
2. Not enough people read them

So...
✏️ I'm hiring a writer to produce the best strategy case studies on the internet!

→ I don't care about your CV.
→ I care about your screenshots folder.
+ the newsletters / YouTubers / books in your content diet.
+ how many hours you've spent using Deep Research / Claude Code / Nano Banana.

Important note: this isn't an ordinary 'Writer' role.
I'm looking for a 'Superwriter'.

You won't just write. You'll build systems.
AI research workflows. Notion Templates. Infographics. Charts. Surveys.

Exceptionally high quality bar + thinks in leverage.

This starts at 1-2 articles per week. Will grow into much more.
Fully remote. Work from anywhere.
Reach millions of tech founders + leaders each month.

If this sounds like you: Job Description + Application in the comments 👇
If this sounds like someone you know: Tag them!

Steve Jobs tried his best to acquire Dropbox, but couldn’t (and ended up launching a competitor instead).

In 2009, he made them an offer most startups dream about:

9-figure acquisition.
Plug into Apple’s ecosystem.
Direct access to Apple’s users.
Validation from a Silicon Valley icon.

But Dropbox’s founders declined. 

Jobs doubled down, saying it was "a feature, not a product."
He threatened that if they didn’t agree to an acquisition, Apple would “kill” Dropbox by launching their own storage product:
→ iCloud

But he was wrong.

iCloud was a huge success, but wasn’t enough to stop Dropbox’s historic run:

In just 7 months, Dropbox had accumulated 100,000 users.
Within 18 months, 500,000.
By October 2009, they'd crossed 2 million users.

A single mechanism was driving over one-third of all new signups:
→ Their iconic referral program 
(”Invite your friend to receive an extra 10gb of free storage”)

It was so effective that within 6 months, it was generating 2.8 million referral invitations monthly.
1 invitation sent every single second (!)

The trajectory from there went exponential:
→ 50 million users by 2011
→ 100 million users by 2012
→ 500 million users by 2016

In 2017, Dropbox hit a milestone faster than any other software company in the past: $1 billion in ARR.
The referral architecture powering Dropbox's growth combined behavioural psychology, network effects, and incentive design.
There’s something every builder can learn from what is arguably the most successful customer acquisition program in SaaS history, so I've deconstructed the 3x underlying principles into a free guide. 

🎁 Here’s the guide → https://lnkd.in/gc9-ih8J

Happy Monday. I got in a heated debate over the weekend. Help me settle this:

I've been daydreaming about redesigning the Strategy Breakdowns website for at least a year. 

Picture this:
→ An infinite canvas. Every article as a card in a grid. 
→ A new interactive way for readers to explore the archive. 

But it’s always sat in the embarrassingly long “maybe one day” pile.

Recently I came across a tool that let me prototype it in an evening.

It only took about 2 minutes of "aha" moments and "oh damn that's cool" design decisions for me to realise i had to turn my rainy-night-in into a breakdown.

The tool is called Alloy - it captures your existing product and lets you vibe on top of it

Most tools are fighting over hobbyists and side projects, so Alloy carved out its own niche: professional product teams prototyping on existing apps

Lots of clever product-led-growth mechanics and smart user psychology baked into this tool. 

✏️ Check out the full breakdown on your new favourite vibe-coding tool: https://lnkd.in/dudG8b6G  and here’s the interactive prototype I made: https://lnkd.in/dVy8zaX3

i can't stop thinking about how all software looks the same now

in the early 2000s, winamp let users completely redesign the interface

→ alien heads
→ video game themes
→ animated creations

it sparked one of the internet's first user-generated design communities

there's actually a museum preserving 100,000+ skins from that era (link below)

somewhere along the way, we lost something special:
→ the ability to add personality into the tools we use every day

my secret wish is that AI brings back the 'customisation layer'

software that feels yours

—

👉 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my newsletter - a 3-minute breakdown of the strategy playbooks and growth hacks behind the world’s greatest companies.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

Software looks the same 

40 years of enterprise software in one chart:

Ownership → subscription → consumption → autonomous 

We're entering an unrecognisable era.
The winners of the next decade will be defined by AI GTM, outcome-based pricing, and the merging of software and services.

We hear a lot about the ‘one-person unicorn’.
A single operator building a billion-dollar company with new business models unlocked by AI.

Im curious - what do you think that business actually *looks* like?
Whats the product? How is it marketed? How does the company operate?

Something I’ve been wondering a lot about lately. Keen to hear your thoughts 💭

—

👉 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you'll love my newsletter - a 3-minute breakdown of the strategy playbooks and growth hacks behind the world’s greatest companies.

Join 110,000+ strategy nerds from companies like Google, Meta, Atlassian, and Netflix: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR

Create Authentic Content With AI (👇) | Helped >600 Entrepreneurs Build Personal Brands

Struggling to turn LinkedIn into real business growth? You’re not alone - most entrepreneurs are. 

In 18 months, I went from 3k to 395k followers, generated 320M+ views, and built a mid-6-figures bootstrapped business with zero CAC.

Now I help committed entrepreneurs & CXOs grow their businesses on LinkedIn.

Before posting on LinkedIn, I thought social media was a total waste of time. 

My journey: 

- 2015–2020: Investment Banking & Private Equity (Goldman Sachs, Vitruvian Partners) 
- 2020–2022: Business school - still convinced social media was all fluff 
- 2023: Built a VC-backed crypto startup and watched competitors skyrocket using social media 
- 2024: Started posting myself → grew from 3k to 395k followers (fastest-growing new LinkedIn account in the world), generated 300M+ views, built a 7-figure bootstrapped business with zero CAC (Saywhat[dot]ai) 

Since then, I’ve worked with 600+ entrepreneurs to grow their brands and businesses on LinkedIn. 

How I can help you: 

1️⃣ For solopreneurs, coaches, and consultants 

Check out Saywhat[dot]ai - our software platform & community helping 600+ entrepreneurs. 

Median user posting 5x/week sees +130% views in 90 days. 
Average user sees 800% more views in 90 days. 

For more case studies, check out the website.

2️⃣ For Founders/CXOs 

I’ll run and grow your LinkedIn end-to-end: strategy, content creation, and audience building to grow your business. 

I work exclusively with Series A+ startups or $10M+ ARR who are: 
- Committed to LinkedIn as a serious, long-term growth channel 
- Willing to invest significantly in brand building (not “testing the waters”) 

If that’s you, send me a DM to learn more.

3️⃣ For free weekly tips Subscribe to my Level Up Newsletter for LinkedIn growth tactics.

And get 120 free LinkedIn post ideas + my AI writing prompts here: https://levelupnewsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe

4️⃣ For a bit of motivation and some tactical business building advice - just give me a follow!

Excited to support you on your journey however I can!

Will McTighe

Success isn't from knowing everything.

It's from admitting you don't.

Most people are terrified of looking stupid:
• They won't ask "dumb" questions in meetings
• They nod along pretending to understand
• They stay quiet when confused

But the most successful people have no problem looking like idiots.
For a long long time.

When they want to learn something, 
they ask others or teach themselves:

Look around:

✅ Elon taught himself how to build rockets
✅ Zuckerberg learned coding alone
✅ Jobs studied calligraphy for fun

They all had one thing in common:
They became masters of self-education.

Here's how to start teaching yourself:

1/ Pick one thing at a time.
↳ Don’t spread yourself too thin - you won’t make an impact.
↳ Focus on learning one skill for 30 days.

2/ Learn by doing.
↳ Reading, consuming alone isn’t learning.
↳ Start a small project - learn what you need as you go.

3/ Learn from someone 2 steps ahead.
↳ Learn from their mistakes - reverse engineer their success.
↳ Take notes on what they do differently.

The difference between winners and the rest?

It's not degrees anymore.
It's how fast you learn and grow. 

Stop asking for permission.
It’s yours to take.

The most important thing I wish I started building sooner?
My personal brand.

📌 Here’s the playbook that got me to >425k followers
With 120 post ideas + my AI writing prompts: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

Remember:
The most important teacher you'll ever have? It's you.

♻ Repost to help your network teach themselves.

➕ Want more? Follow me Will McTighe

LinkedIn & B2B Marketing Whisperer | Helped 600+ Founders & Execs Build Influence

Messy Career? 
Read this: 👇

When we look at our LinkedIn feed, everyone's career looks perfect. 
A straight line to success.

But there is so much that we're all hiding:
• The failed projects. 
• The career U-turns. 
• The "what was I thinking?" moments.

Truth is, we're all figuring it out. 
And in 2026, that's just normal. 
Embracing it is even an advantage.

Why? 
Because the most interesting opportunities come from unexpected places. 
The skills you think are "irrelevant" today might be your edge tomorrow.

But we still: 
• Hide our failures 
• Delete old job titles 
• Pretend each move was "strategic"

Stop.

And remember: 
• Every pivot adds to your toolkit. 
• Every failure makes you stronger. 
• Every "mess" teaches you resilience.

The people winning right now aren't doing everything perfectly.

They're learning from every turn. 
They're building while others doubt. 
They're connecting the dots others miss.

Your messy career isn't a bug. 
It's a feature.

Own it.

One of my craziest career decisions? 
Posting on LinkedIn.

Want to do the same? 
Here are 120 post ideas to get started: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost if you're proud of your non-linear path

P.S. What did your messiest career moment teach you? 
Share below 👇

7 Japanese Concepts That Will Change How You Work:

Most people feel like they're drowning in work.

But some people stay calm through chaos.

Sometimes the best answers come from ancient wisdom.
And these timeless principles still work today.

Here are 7 Japanese concepts you need to know:

1/ Wabi-Sabi: Embrace Imperfection

↳ Chase progress not perfection - ship at 70%.
↳ Share a work-in-progress update, not just polished results. Show the messy middle.

2/ Shoshin: Beginner's Mind

↳ Ask the dumb questions in meetings
↳ Say "I don't know but I'll find out" more

3/ Shokunin: Master Your Craft

↳ Pick the top up and coming skill you need in your industry. Block 30 minutes daily.
↳ DM someone great at it. Ask one question. Learn from real experience.

4/ Kaizen: Get 1% Better Everyday

↳ Every evening, write one tiny thing you'll do better tomorrow.
↳ End projects with: What worked? What didn't? What's next?

5/ Shikata ga nai: Accepting the Unchangeable

↳ Sort concerns: "My control" vs. "Not my control." Act accordingly.
↳ Use the 10-minute rule. Address it briefly, then decide.

6/ Kintsugi: Your Failures Are Your Best Stories

↳ Name three lessons from each setback. Write them down.
↳ Share lessons learned. Prevent repeat mistakes.

7/ Ikigai: Finding Your Purpose

↳ Track what energizes you. Reorganize your calendar around it.
↳ Map skills to market needs. Improve your market value.

I've seen hundreds transform their work with these principles.

I applied Shoshin when I started posting on LinkedIn 2 years ago.

You can too with 120 post ideas + my AI writing prompts: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

—

♻ Repost to help your network transform the way they work.

➕ Want more? Follow me Will McTighe

7 Japanese Concepts

Progress happens even when its not visible. 

Most people just don't wait to see it:

They quit way too soon because they don’t see results fast enough.

They:
• Try something new for 10 days
• See no growth
• Call it a failure

But the best know progress happens before it’s visible.

They follow The Bamboo Rule.

Once planted, the bamboo tree doesn’t show any growth for 5 years.
Nothing above the soil.

Then it shoots up to 70-90 feet in under 6 weeks.

Here’s how to grow like bamboo (and not burn out):

1/ Track what matters (not what looks good).

Don’t chase likes - track your actions. Focus on what moves you forward, not just what feeds your ego.

If you're building your personal brand on LinkedIn, track:
✅ Posts published per week
✅ Comments you leave daily
✅ People you engage with in DMs
✅ Quality connection requests sent - to creators, target audience

2/ Stop judging yourself too early.

Stop comparing your day 1 to someone’s day 300. It's easy to look at big accounts and think "why aren't I there yet?" Focus on staying in the game long enough to earn that compound growth.

Avoid:
❌ Deleting bad posts
❌ Copying viral formats without adding your own spin
❌ Obsessing over impressions instead of improvement

3/ Don’t grow alone.

Growth is hard. Support makes it easier. One accountability partner can make it a lot more fun. Miro Bada helped me a ton on my journey!

Try this:
✅ Share your weekly goals
✅ Set minimum activity goals
✅ Call each other out if you miss them

The difference between winners and the rest is simple:

When they set a goal,
They keep going - even when things get hard.

📌 Want to start building your personal brand on LinkedIn?
We've broken down the playbook for how in our full >50-page report.

If you want access, here's how:
1. Like this post
2. Share it with your network
3. Join the Saywhat & Creator Accelerator Webinar (January 8th 12:30pm US EST) where we'll walk you through the playbook.

You'll get:
• The full ~50-page data report
• Our complete analysis of what's changing
• Actionable strategies based on real data
• Live Q&A for your specific questions

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gXiUSNr5

♻ Repost to help your network do hard things.

➕ Want more? Follow me Will McTighe

Visual Inspo: Jade Bonacolta

People treat storytelling like a soft, squidgy skill. 

Not a “proper” skill like finance or coding.

But sales? That's storytelling. 
Hiring? Storytelling. 
Getting hired? Storytelling.

Most skills that matter have some element of storytelling in them.

And if you don't tell your story... someone else will make it up for you.

So here are 7 different storytelling frameworks (for different situations):

1/ Hero's Journey
• A transformation arc showing struggle, growth, and return.
• Use when: Pitching yourself in an interview or telling your founder story.

2/ The Golden Circle
• Start with Why, then How, then What. Inspire before you sell.
• Use when: Explaining your company to someone who doesn't get why it matters.

3/ The Mountain Structure
• Tension builds with each step until the final breakthrough.
• Use when: Telling a story at dinner or giving a talk with a big payoff moment.

4/ Pixar's Story Framework
• Once upon a time, every day, until one day - the ideal story arc.
• Use when: Making someone care before you ask for anything.

5/ The 3-Act Play
• Act 1: Set up. Act 2: Conflict. Act 3: Resolution.
• Use when: Writing a case study or explaining how you solved a client problem.

6/ What, So What, Now What
• Turn data and facts into insights and action.
• Use when: Presenting to execs or making a case for budget.

7/ The Problem–Agitate–Solution (PAS)
• Expose a problem, make people feel it, then fix it - the one I use for most LinkedIn posts.
• Use when: Writing a sales page, cold email, or LinkedIn post selling something.

Next time you're out for dinner and about to launch into a monologue, pause and think.

"What if I tried one of those frameworks I saw on LinkedIn?"
Then as you talk, watch peoples' reactions.
When do they get bored? When do they lean in?

Do that over and over, and watch yourself improve with only a wee bit of effort.

📌 Start telling your story one post at a time.
Here's my free email playbook: https://lnkd.in/ga7QpS8v

-

♻️ Repost to help your network tell their stories better.

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this.

It doesn't take rocket science to change your life.

It just takes doing simple things over and over again.

Here are 10 of my favourite TED talks that give you those small reminders you need to take action.

1/ Sleep Is Your Superpower (Matt Walker)
Sleep isn’t a reward - it’s your daily reboot.

2/ The Power Of Vulnerability (Brene Brown)
Brown's research is clear. People bond with authenticity.

3/ The Art Of Saying No (Kenny Nguyen)
Every time you say yes to something you don’t want - you’re saying no to yourself.

4/ Start With Why (Simon Sinek)
People don't follow purpose, they follow instructions.

5/ Want To Be Happy? (David Steindl-Rast)
Happiness isn’t in the next promotion or next purchase.

6/ How To Speak So That People Want To Listen (Julian Treasure)
If they’re tuning out, it might not be your message - it’s your delivery.

7/ Inside Mind Of A Master Procrastinator (Tim Urban)
You’re not lazy. You just haven’t set a real deadline.

8/ Why Specializing Early Doesn’t Always Mean Career Success (David Epstein)
Trying different paths isn’t being lost.

9/ Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable (Luvvie Jones)
Growth lives outside your comfort zone. Not within it.

10/ How To Save The World From Bad Meetings (David Grady)
Don’t attend meetings without an agenda - there’s no point.

Pick one talk. Watch it today. Take one small action.
That's how big changes start.

♻️ Repost to help someone else break free

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

10 ted talks to change your life

LinkedIn's algorithm doesn't kill most peoples' reach.

A bad understanding of human psychology does.

What most people don't get is that algorithms change, but LinkedIn's core incentive doesn't. 

They want to show your content to as many people as possible to keep users scrolling so they can show more ads.

Simple as that.

So while everyone's chasing the latest "hack" or obsessing over posting times, they're completely missing what actually moves the needle...

Human psychology.

So what does that mean for you??

1/ People crave novelty. 

Always have, always will. 
Get creative with your visuals. That's why whiteboard infographics are crushing it right now. It's the same information everyone else shares, just presented differently. Our brains can't help but pay attention.

The flood of AI has made understanding psychology even more important. When everything sounds the same, creativity in delivery wins. Storytelling beats "6 top tips" every time. Even if you are making the SAME POINT!

2/ Write like a human, not a content robot.

More competition doesn't mean you need to be more polished. It means you need to get weirder. More specific. More you.

3/ Specificity cuts through the noise. 

Generic AI content is everywhere now. 
Instead of "Here's how to scale your business," share the exact moment a client called you panicking about cash flow and what you told them that turned everything around.

4/ Lead with proof from your actual experience, not recycled advice from someone else's posts.

It shows people you actually know what you're talking about and why they should listen to you instead of some other Joe Bloggs.

5/ Niche content is getting shown to MORE people now. 

LinkedIn wants to show relevant content to relevant audiences, not blast generic posts everywhere. I've seen posts crush it in psychiatry, energy, cybersecurity and events management.

Yes LinkedIn is always refining their algorithm...

But if you want to win in content - deliver value and do it in a way that shows you understand what makes humans tick. 

📌 Want to high res pdf of this?
Get it here: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost to help your people win on LinkedIn

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

Source: Saywhat Q4 2025 Algorithm report based on anonymized data from 329,504 user posts.

Every post has a job.

Grow your audience. Build trust. Convert.

Most people try to do all of that in one post.

Then they wonder why they're not growing their audience and driving leads.

I remember in the early days, posting a selfie about my weekend plans and wondering why it didn't grow my audience 🤣.

If you don't know your goal before you write it, don't be surprised when nothing happens.

There are 9 core post types on LinkedIn, and each one exists for a specific reason:

1/ Spectacle Posts
2/ Awareness Posts (h/o Chris Donnelly)
3/ Step By Step Carousels
4/ Breaking News Posts
5/ Educational Posts
6/ Behind The Scenes Posts
7/ Repurposed Posts
8/ Conversion Posts
9/ Lead Magnet Posts

Next time you sit down to write your content, ask yourself:
“What do I want readers to feel or do after reading this?”

Then choose the type.
Don't just post educational content and silly quotes.

Use posts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 to grow your audience.
Use posts 1 and 6 to build trust.
Use posts 8 and 9 to convert.

📌 Want a high res pdf of this?
Get it here: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost to help your network win on LinkedIn.

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this.

Everyone starts off with a dream: 
• A business they want to start 
• A career they want to build 
• A life they want to create

But then life gets in the way...

A demanding job. Bills to pay. Family commitments.

And so they wait.

"When things settle down..." 
"When I have more time..." 
"When I feel ready..."

But things NEVER settle down.

They just... change.

I spent 5 years sleep walking into a life that wasn't mine...
Until I finally decided enough was enough.

It was my dad's dream to work in finance.

Not mine.

And while you're waiting: 
• Dreams fade 
• Years slip by 
• Regret builds

But the perfect moment is a myth...

However, the right mindset isn't.

So start here:

1/ Embrace the chaos
2/ Take tiny steps (15 minutes count)
3/ Build momentum first
4/ Celebrate small wins
5/ Drop the "perfect"

Your mindset matters most.

Not your past. 
Not your situation. 
Not your excuses.

The only question is: 
What small step will you take today?

📌 Done waiting? 
Here's your playbook to build something of your own: https://lnkd.in/ga7QpS8v

♻️ Repost to help others break free.

➕ Follow me for more like this.

Visual inspired by Hayden Swerling !

I’ve helped 600+ founders from solopreneurs to CEOs of billion dollar companies build their brands on LinkedIn. I’ll tell you what I tell them:

Building a successful brand is not about “hacking an algorithm.”
Especially if you don’t yet get the fundamentals.

Algorithms get tweaked all the time.
So at first, you’re best off focusing on the parts that stay the same…

How people think, what they trust, and whether your profile tells them your value in five seconds.

Here’s how you can do it:

1/ Find your niche
Pick one problem you can solve and exactly who you solve it for.

2/ Profile photo
Use a clear, close-up headshot that looks credible on mobile.

3/ Banner
Communicate your value simply and one clear action.

4/ Headline
Winning formula = How you help + ideal customer + dream outcome + social proof.

5/ Finding content ideas
Study posts that outperform and adapt the pattern to your niche.

6/ LinkedIn content funnel
Use a mix of TOFU, MOFU and BOFU posts…most people only use one type.

7/ Writing for LinkedIn
Use short paragraphs, simple language and one clear CTA. Avoid asking boring questions at the end.

8/ Designing for LinkedIn
Stick to readable fonts, and brand colours but experiment with style every few months (like whiteboards right now)

9/ Repurposing content
Reuse what already worked instead of starting from scratch. Change the format, update the info or try a new angle for the same topic.

10/ Featured section
Have a lead magnet that solves a narrow, painful problem in exchange for email. Consider adding a testimonial.

11/ About section
Explain how you help, make it scannable, add a link for the next step - calendar or website.

12/ Posting strategy
Post consistently at the same time each day…Sunday’s are a great day to post.

13/ Engaging on LinkedIn
Engage before posting. Respond after. Send 10 personalized DMs every day to your dream customers. That’s how you drive sales

This is how I went from 3k to 430k followers in under 2 years.
Yes, LinkedIn is always changing. Yes, there's more competition than ever.

But the fundamentals haven't changed. Treat your profile like a landing page. 

Post content that actually solves a problem. Engage like a human, not a bot.

📌 Want to high res pdf of this?
Get it here: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost to help your people win on LinkedIn

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

🚨 Organic reach is down 67% from peak.

And LinkedIn has changed forever:

After spending hours pouring over the latest data, here’s what Chris Donnelly and I learned:

Impressions are down again... 12% from Q4 2024.

The gap between Top 1% content and everyone else is still huge at 149x.

Most creators are working harder for less reach.

Here’s what is actually working in Q4 2025:

1/ How To Go Viral
❌ Remote work, leadership, career development only.
✅ Niche topics like nuclear power, events, data and engineering can go viral.

2/ Best Post Length
❌ Short posts with <7 paragraphs.
✅ Conversational writing with 1.3k to 3k characters perform 31% better.

3/ Top Quote Format
❌ Billboards used to always outperform.
✅ Use paper backgrounds with highlights.

4/ Top Photo Styles
❌ Too many selfies signals low status.
✅ Surprising & behind-the-scenes moments (e.g. on stage)

5/ Best Carousel Format
❌ Listicles like “7 signs of a toxic manager”.
✅ Storytelling/contrast carousels. 7-10 slides.

6/ Comments That Matter
❌ Mass generic comments helped you grow.
✅ Comments from authority figures - CEOs/Execs/ Large, engaged accounts.

7/ Best Video Strategy
❌ Videos for followers and virality.
✅ Videos to show product demos & build trust.

8/ How To Use Links
❌ Avoiding links at all costs.
✅ Posts with 3+ helpful links perform 210% better.

9/ Best Lead Magnets
❌ Used to just be playbooks and 1-pagers. They make the reader work.
✅ GPTs are some of best-performing lead magnets. They do the work for you.

10/ Top Performing Hooks
❌ Lukewarm 2-line contrarian hooks are overdone.
✅ Proof of work hooks perform perform 4-10% better.

11/ Emojis
❌ Telltale sign of AI.
✅ Breaks up long walls of text, add color.

Old LinkedIn rewarded games.
New LinkedIn rewards humanity, quality and proof above all else.

Top 1% creators are still growing by more than 1,000 followers/week.

📌 We've broken down exactly how in our full >50-page report.
Want access?

Here's how:
1. Like this post
2. Share it with your network
3. Join the Saywhat & Creator Accelerator Webinar (January 8th 12:30pm US EST) where we'll walk you through the playbook.

https://lnkd.in/gXiUSNr5

You'll get:
• The full ~50-page data report
• Our complete analysis of what's changing
• Actionable strategies based on real data
• Live Q&A for your specific questions

♻️ Repost this to help others stay ahead on LinkedIn

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this.

How I built my LinkedIn from scratch
(and went from 3k to 425k followers in 22 months)

Most LinkedIn™ posts die at 500 views.
But some consistently hit 100,000+.

The difference isn’t luck, it’s 100 small things done right.
Some of them so small, you barely notice.

Chris and I analysed 329,504 posts and here are some important things about winning on LinkedIn:

1/ Find Your Niche
• Pick one problem you can solve and who you’re solving it for.

2/ Profile Photo
• HD, close-up, no selfies - add a solid background.

3/ Banner
• One message. One CTA. No clutter.

4/ Write a Clear Headline
• Who you help + what you help with + proof.

5/ Finding Content Ideas
• Find the outlier posts - topic, design, format. Create a swipe file.

6/ LinkedIn Content Funnel
• Use TOFU (4x a week), MOFU (2x), BOFU (1x) posts to turn attention into leads.

7/ Writing For LinkedIn
• Longer posts with 1200-3000 characters perform 31% better. Saywhat’s Collab assistant & post previewer helps a lot.

8/ Designing For LinkedIn
• Dark text against lighter background - stick to 1–2 fonts and a set of brand colors.

9/ Repurposing Content
• Reshare top posts every 3 months with tweaks.

10/ Featured Section
• Include a lead magnet that solves a real, narrow pain for your ICP.

11/ About Section
• Focus on how you help your reader. Use bullets + scannable format.

12/ Custom Button + URL
• Link to your offer or calendar. Make it easy to click.

13/ Posting Strategy
• Post >3x/week, same time each day. Weekends = better reach.

14/ Engaging On LinkedIn
• Comment before posting, DM profile viewers after. Respond to maximum comments you get on your own post.

I ran out of space on this post, but you can get the rest by following the link below.

📌 The complete 50+ page report breaks down much more:
• How to build lead magnets
• How to design better infographics
• What the top creators doing differently

Want access? Here's how:
• Like this post
• Share it with your network
• Join the Saywhat & Creator Accelerator Webinar (January 8th 12:30pm US EST) where we'll walk you through the playbook

Here’s the link: https://lnkd.in/gXiUSNr5

-

♻ Repost to help your network win on LinkedIn.

➕ Want more? Follow me Will McTighe

Most LinkedIn™ posts die at 500 views.
But some consistently hit 100,000+.
Here’s the difference:

This gap isn’t luck, it’s 100 small things done right.
Some of them so small, you barely notice.

Chris and I analysed 329,504 posts and here’s what the data shows:

1/ Writing better content
• Outlier posts are all that matter. Create a swipe file
• Study your top 20% posts for repeatable patterns
• 1,250–3,000 characters perform 31% better
• Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward
• Write like you speak. Use prompt: "Rewrite this like I'm explaining it to a friend over coffee. I use words like…"

2/ Improving your visuals
• Test different visual formats in your niche: carousels, infographics, pictures
• Large titles, high contrast, simple layouts win
• Pain-focused titles outperform generic “How to…”
• Ask: “Can someone take one action in 5 minutes?”
• Carousel titles need emotion and relatability: "Am I raising a brat?" beats "Signs of entitled children"
• One personal photo + one video weekly builds trust - use them.

3/ Post structure
• Hook with proof of work or proof of authority
• Use white space and emojis for visual breaks
• Make your posts easy to read - posts w/ >14 paragraphs perform 57% better
• Use simple language - posts with words that average more >5 letters perform 38% worse
• Don’t be afraid to use links - posts with 3+ links perform better because more people save them

4/ When to post and engage
• Reach is highest of Sundays and Saturdays
• Sun-Thurs: educational posts and carousels
• Fri-Sat: personal stories and BTS content
• Best time to post: 11AM–1PM GMT
• Top 1% creators respond to 286 comments/week - 741% more than avg. creators
• Include personal experiences and pictures in your comments

5/ Three things to do right now
• Use emojis intentionally - 💸 ✅ to highlight key points and examples
• Get rid of your hashtags - they scream AI
• Start posting lead magnets to grow your email list

📌 The complete report breaks down much more:
• How to build lead magnets
• How to design better infographics
• What the top creators doing differently

Want access? Here's how:
1. Like this post
2. Share it with your network
3. Join the Saywhat & Creator Accelerator Webinar (January 8th 12:30pm US EST) where we'll walk you through the playbook

You'll get:
• The full ~50-page data report
• Our complete analysis of what's changing
• Actionable strategies based on real data
• Live Q&A for your specific questions

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gXiUSNr5

♻️ Repost this to help others stay ahead on LinkedIn

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this.

Most people miss the world's biggest goldmine for content ideas:

Reddit.

It is the internet's biggest focus group.

~100m daily active users
Sharing their frustrations openly - no matter the niche.

Which means:
• Endless post ideas
• Content that feels fresh, not recycled
• Higher odds of writing something people actually care about

Here’s exactly how to do it:

Step 1: Find Your Content Buckets
• Ask Saywhat: “What are the top 10 pain points of [your audience]?”

Step 2: Choose One To Explore
• Pick 1–2 pain points that feel urgent today.

Step 3: Go To Reddit
• Search the pain point on Reddit for trending topics.

Step 4: Set The Right Filters
• Switch to Top + Past Month/Week to find fresh problems.

Step 5: Find a Problem
• Pick a thread with the highest upvotes - pre-validated topics.

Step 6: Draft With Collab
• Paste the thread into Collab and ask it to write the first draft.

Step 7: Include Your Personal Experiences
• Edit the draft: add your insight, make it personal.

Step 8: Refine and Improve
• Ask for 2–3 new hooks. Choose the one that makes you feel something.

Step 9: Preview Before Publishing
• Check how the post looks on mobile.

Step 10: Publish With Confidence
• Because now it’s based on real problems people want solved.

Don’t overthink the system.
Pick one pain point today.

Run it through Reddit + Saywhat.
Post the draft tomorrow.

📌 Want more tips like this?
Get my free playbook: https://saywhat.ai/course/

♻️ Repost to help your network win on LinkedIn.

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

Using Reddit for LinkedIn

There are two types of reliable people.
The ones who are always available. And the ones who are always ahead.

Most people think reliability comes from responsiveness.
Reply fast. Join every call. Be “on” all the time.

And early in your career it works - what you lack in skill, you make up with responsiveness.

But later it becomes a trap.

If you spend your whole career as an “always available” type.
You’re checking Slack at dinner. You’re always responding at 11pm.

It also doesn’t work as you become more senior because your list of potential tasks becomes never-ending.

If you’re an “always ahead” type…
You are often free at the weekends. Yet never miss a deadline, never drop a ball, and keep getting promoted.

I have spent a lot of my career in the first group but now as I grow my teams, I am trying to become a member of the 2nd group. 

I use tools like Loom to help - by eliminating repetitive work and “quick” 30 min meetings.

For example, in 2025, I created 182 Looms and eliminated 842 meetings.

They even gave me a title “The Director” because of how many looms I record lol.

Here's how you can impress your boss and get ahead (without burning out):

1/ Don’t waste their time
2/ Handle things without being told to
3/ Never miss a follow-up
4/ Bring solutions, not just problems
5/ Ensure nothing breaks when you’re on holiday
6/ Make their team look good
7/ Teach others how to solve complex issues

You can still get ahead without being online at 11PM.
You just need to be three steps ahead. These habits get you there.

Try Loom to impress your boss without burning out: https://lnkd.in/g43uXVcw

♻️ Repost to help others work smarter

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

#AtlassianPartner

Brand partnership • LinkedIn & B2B Marketing Whisperer | Helped 600+ Founders & Execs Build Influence

6 smart ways to impress your boss

Success stories lie by omission.

They compress 5 years into 3 bullet points:
• Quitting your job 
• Starting a "side hustle" 
• Building a 7-figure business working on 4hrs/days

Then YEARS of silence and doubts gets left out.

Take me:
It took me 9 years to leave corporate. 
My first startup was a failure - 1.5 years gone. 
I had an existential crisis every week: "Did I just waste all that time?" "What am I doing with my life?"

I started posting on LinkedIn - spent 9 months wondering if it would work. 
I kept believing anyway.

I started Saywhat - we hit over $600k ARR after 11 months with some bumps along the way.

Brand partnerships started exploding. Demand for exec branding went through the roof.

Things really start working 3.5 years into entrepreneurship and 12.5 years after "knowing" I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

There's a huge gap between "I'm starting something" and "wow, it's really working". And it's way longer than social media tells you.

This pattern repeats everywhere:
Nvidia was started 1993. AI Boom? 2023. 
Netflix was founded 1997. Cultural dominance? ~2013 
Coca-Cola was invented in 1886. Global dominance? 1950s.

The gap between starting and succeeding is where most people give up. But it's also where the real work happens.

If you're in that gap right now, you're exactly where you need to be.

📌 The biggest career leverage for me?
Building my personal brand.
Here's your free playbook: https://saywhat.ai/course/ 

♻️ Repost to help someone in the messy middle

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Success Stories Lie By Ommission by Will McTighe

In the last 2 years, I've written nearly 1,000 LinkedIn posts.

Here's the fastest way to set up your content system today:

If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that I am a HUGE believer in the power of content.

Whether that is to accelerate your career if you work in corporate or if run your own business and want to drive leads.

Building my brand and businesses on LinkedIn has been the highest leverage thing I've ever done and I will keep leaning into this in 2026 as I continue building out YouTube and my newsletter.

We all also know it is a huge pain, especially when you're getting started.

I use Notion every day and so I've teamed up with Notion (and their new Notion Agent) to help you set up your content strategy and come up with 30 days of content ideas in under 15 minutes:

1/ Open Notion Agent
Open Notion(.)so and click on the Notion AI icon

2/ Choose The Content Agent Template
Click browse templates, then select “Your Content AI Agent Template”

3/ Tell it your ideal customer, niche and writing style
Feed it your stories, voice, audience details, and writing style. More context = better output.

4/ Paste in this prompt to create your content calendar
Paste this prompt:
“Create a LinkedIn HQ for me - I want a database where each entry is one post.
Add these properties: -Topic / Theme, -Platform (LinkedIn), -Format (text, carousel, video), -Status (idea, drafting, scheduled, published), -Publish date, -Responsibility. Set it up so I can view everything in a calendar by publishing date.”

5/ Create a reusable post template
Include post draft, final post, visual inspiration and visual content.

6/ Switch to calendar view
See all posts and ideas in one place. Sort by date, format, type, theme etc.

7/ Create a list of 30 content ideas
Paste in this prompt:
“Based on my target audience and what I sell. Please create a list of 30 painful problems that my target audience has. They should be as specific and visceral as possible. Please add each as a LinkedIn post in the content calendar from Monday to Friday (no posts at the weekend) for the next month.”

8/ Write your first post
Pick any idea and paste in this prompt: “write an awareness post using the problem-agitate-solution framework on [topic]. Make it conversational - the language should be 5th-7th grade reading level but not fragmented 2-3 word sentences. End with a clear takeaway.”

This whole system takes 15 minutes to set up.

Most people will spend longer than that tomorrow morning trying to figure out what to post.

Try Notion Agent today to build your own content system: https://lnkd.in/g8qZhc8u

♻️ Repost to help your network win on LinkedIn.

#NotionPartner

Build Your Content System by Will McTighe

Failure is inevitable.
The story you attach to it is optional.

Most people don't struggle because they fail.
They struggle because of the meaning they attach to it.

One rejection becomes "I'm not good enough."
One bad interview becomes "I'm bad at interviews."
One flopped post becomes "Nobody cares what I have to say."

They skip straight from what happened to "this is who I am."

Failure becomes identity.

Well let me break it to you:

Failure does not decide who you are. 
You decide who you are.

And whatever identity you choose, you'll prove yourself right.

Here’s a better way to handle failure when it shows up:
(because it will)

1/ Strip the emotion out first.
Write down exactly what happened, not feelings, just the facts.

2/ Find the single variable you can change.
Was it preparation, clarity, repetition, or timing? Pick one thing and work on it.

3/ Adjust, then go again.
Don’t change your path because of one failure. Iterate, then try again.

People who win don’t avoid failure, they just refuse to let one moment define their whole story.

📌 Want to make it easier to fail?
Start posting online (it's pretty embarrassing but life-changing).
Here's how you can get started: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost to help someone get over their fear of failure.

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this.

What failure really means by Will McTighe

I made $120,000 by taking 2 days off.

And I almost didn’t do it…

It was my first brand trip with Zapier.

I basically never take time off.
(It drives my wife nuts 🙄)

However this time, I said yes.

So I flew to Zion and spent 48 hours with amazing creators like Charlie Hills 🦩, Avni Barman, Marina Mogilko, Chris Cunningham and Brandon Smithwrick 🧠.

During the trip, someone told me a story that was just... too good to leave in their head.

They'd faked winning the lottery when they were at College and had gotten onto national news. 🤣

So I wrote them a LinkedIn post about it. Didn't ask for anything. Just thought the world should hear it.

A couple months later, they intro'd me to a consulting client.

That contract is worth $120,000. 

That trip reinforced two things:

1. When you get opportunities to connect with great people - take them (even if it feels 'unproductive')

2. You get opportunities by helping people with what you're good at. Not by asking what they can do for you.

Massive thanks to Wade Foster, Philip Lakin, Fiona Turko, Ryan Quindlen 🦇, Cailin, Elizabeth Roberts, AJ Eckstein 🧩, Tara Knight 🧩 & Naek M. for bringing us all together.

Most LinkedIn advice comes from people who haven't actually done it.
It's very easy to copy and paste a bunch of advice in a LinkedIn post.

Especially with AI these days.
It's a lot harder to actually get results for yourself and others.

I've built a 430,000-person audience in the last two years and helped everyone from solopreneurs to CEOs of multi-billion dollar public companies, to build their brands on LinkedIn.

And it all starts with writing posts.

Here's how I think about structuring them:

1/ Hook
✅ Lead with personal stories backed by proof - numbers make it real. Skip the lukewarm hot takes and fake urgency - people can smell BS from a mile away.

2/ Rehook
✅ Don't let people scroll past. Paint their current reality, the one that wakes them up at 2am. Make the problem feel urgent without being fake.

3/ Body
✅ Break it into 2-3 line chunks - walls of text kill engagement. Use emojis and symbols as visual anchors.

4/ Aha Moment
✅ Create the "oh that's so true" moment for people. Share something they can actually use in the next 24 hours, not "mindset shifts"

5/ Closing
✅ This is what sticks after they scroll away. Don't slap on a motivational quote - tie it back to your core point without using "it's not X, it's Y". And make it sharp enough that they remember it tomorrow

6/ CTA
✅ Pick one action - if you ask for three things, you get none. Make it stupidly easy to follow. The best CTA is the one people actually do.

Most people try to sound clever.
Humans prefer clear.

📌 Want a high-res pdf of this?
Get it here: https://lnkd.in/gKzZUq-b

♻️ Repost to help others cut through the noise

➕ Follow me (Will McTighe) for more like this

taplio

The Battle

Tom Alder

Will McTighe

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Performance ScoreTom Alder's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWill McTighe's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Tom Alder

Will McTighe

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tom Alder's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWill McTighe's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreTom Alder's LinkedIn Performance